It is – especially among American pro-athletes – a prestigious race that serves as a special win on the resume: the Escape Alcatraz Triathlon. The race starts at the infamous former prison and finishes in “downtown” San Francisco. This weekend it was Ben Kanute and Emma Pallant who captured the big wins. For Kanute, it meant making history, as he is the first man to win the race four times, a feat that is even more impressive since yesterday was his fourth win in a row.
Kanute laid his foundation for victory during the swim, when he opened a gap on almost everyone thanks to his 33:16 split for the 2.4 km first leg. Only Greg Harper was slightly faster, but Harper would fall back on the bike and during the run. Kanute did not do any falling back, blasting through the 28.8 hilly kilometers in 46:50, again one of the fastest times of the day. For the run – a mere 13 km on the trails – he ran a 45:44 split to finish in 2:10:11. Jason West was second in a time of 2:12:16 and Bradley Weiss third in 2:12:41.
Among the women, it was the first two who made the race exciting: Emma Pallant and Holly Lawrence. The latter swam almost two minutes faster with a time of 34:42, and also biked a minute faster, but Pallant really came through on the run and caught up to Lawrence. She didn’t hesitate and just passed Lawrence, eventually taking the win in 2:22:20. Lawrence took the silver in a time of 2:23:04. Then it was a little longer before Jackie Hering ran through in third in 2:27:44.
